Sex assaults on minors worry church

THE Gutnius Lutheran Church head bishop says there are too many rape cases against minors.
“Churches and the public will appreciate the courts imposing similar sentences against those found guilty in future,” said David Piso, referring to The National’s front page on Monday of a father who was jailed for 80 years for raping his daughter over a 12-year period.
“The national court made the right decision to impose an 80-year sentence. This is a clear indication that the devil is working among the people who are trusted to look after the young,” Piso said.
“It is also an indication of social, spiritual, ethical and moral break down in communities.”
He said that these evil problems could not be solved with the barrel of guns, “it needs collective efforts from everyone to address it”.
“There is an imbalance of spiritual and physical developments taking place in the country,” he said.
“It’s a wake-up call for the government to seriously address the immoral activities occurring in the country through the churches network system that is already in place.
“How are we, as a Christian nation, going to address such problems within families, schools, and back in our own communities.”
Piso said that the weapon to use against evil is the word of God and therefore, government should empower churches with resources to change people’s lives through awareness, crusades, church gatherings, and during church services.
He said that a classic example were the sorcery cases in Enga province.
He said that some two years ago, there were so many sorcery-related killings and torturing of innocent people in Enga.
He said that when Governor Peter Ipatas recognised that sorcery was an evil and comes from devil, he funded the Enga Provincial Council of Churches who successfully battled the evil with the word of God and addressed the problem.
“Now, you seldom hear about sorcery-related killings or torturing in Enga,” he said.
Piso said with government support, churches could take the lead to address other social problems.